Cuomo's budget calls for revamped brownfield credits

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal on Tuesday will include a plan to revamp the state’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, an oft-criticized tax credit to developers who clean and build on contaminated sites.

The brownfield program, which is set to expire next year, would be extended for 10 years under the Cuomo plan, according to administration officials. But it would have a new set of criteria in place that is meant to crack down on abuse and target needy sites, including a requirement that remediation credits only be used on cleanup costs.

Cuomo’s budget will also add $4 million to the state’s Environmental Protection Fund, which provides grants for projects that cut down on pollution and improve parks and open space. Under Cuomo’s proposal, the fund would be at $157 million, up from the current year’s $153 million.

Katherine Nadeau, policy director for Environmental Advocates, said her group supports reforms to the brownfield program and boosting the environmental fund, but said she’s waiting to see specifics before taking a stand. Several environmental groups had been pushing for a full $200 million in the Environmental Protection Fund.

“What we do know is that economic development is going to be a centerpiece of the governor’s budget proposal,” Nadeau said. “When it comes right down to it, investing in our communities needs to be a big piece of that, and reforming the brownfield program and the Environmental Protection Fund are great ways to put money back into communities and put people back to work.”

The Cuomo proposal calls for limiting eligibility for brownfield tax breaks, which in recent years has been dominating by downstate developers. From 2008 through 2012, 60 percent of brownfield credits went to projects in New York City, while another 17 percent went to Westchester County, according to a report commissioned by Cuomo’s tax-reform committee.

Specifically, redevelopment tax credits would be limited to sites that meet certain criteria, including those that have sat vacant for 15 years or were both vacant and delinquent on taxes for 10 years. Other sites that would be eligible are those whose cost of cleanup is more than the value of the property and sites that are deemed “regionally significant” by Empire State Development, the state’s economic-development arm.